Paddington Academy Students Make Their Mark with Peter Jones

Make Your Mark with a Tenner, run by Enterprise UK, loans young people £10 and challenges them to make as much profit and social impact as they can in one month. In 2009 the competition took place throughout February with 16,000 under-19s from schools, colleges and youth groups across the UK taking part.
To celebrate the opening of this year’s challenge Peter Jones (Entrepreneur and judge on the TV series Dragon’s Den) visited Paddington Academy and met with students in year 10 and 11 to find out what they would be doing with their ten pounds. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and find out what qualities are needed to
make a successful entrepreneur.

Mr Gilliland’s Social Enterprise class are ‘making their mark’ by producing and selling food. They kicked off by selling popcorn at the Academy’s Pantomime where they sold out! They have since reinvested their profits to make more exciting dishes themed around popular holidays such as Valentine's Day and Pancake Day. The project has allowed students to not only develop their practical cookery skills but also their understanding of profit, portion control, ethical sourcing, market research, marketing and citizenship through the production and sale of foods. The group will choose a charity at the end of the year which will receive the profits from their enterprise.